Jeff's Anime Lair

Welcome to my anime web section. Is this site design drab? Yes. Informative site? I like to think so.

Anime DVD Bugs:
It seems one of my more popular features is my listing of all the minor, as well as a few major bugs I find in DVDs, either with bug reports to me, posts on some forums, or I notice them myself.

Limited video goodies page, such as the elusive limited Pioneer items.Info on starting an Anime club I have helped start a small anime club over a year ago, this is the information that I have collected on doing it as properly as possible. I can't guarantee everything but I can say that it is a good start.

Armitage III Movie and OAV Differences
This is where I am starting to document the differences between the presently available "Polymatrix" movie and the much harder to find "OAV" version of Armitage III.

Anime DVD Tidbits:
Anytime I find an interesting tidbit on an anime DVD, or find a quick work-around for forced ads I'll try to track them here. Click the title above to go there.

Rants:
Where I vent my issues concerning fandom, companies and even Japan.

Anime:
I regularly watch Japanese animation, usually called anime, renting two or three tapes a week, plus I own some tapes, laserdiscs and DVDs. If you haven't watched any that you remember, go to Blockbuster and rent Grave of the Fireflies. Why do fireflies die so young? It seems to be the best movie to introduce anime, it is based on real events, it is very sad and emotional, and above all, realistic. It is a movie that looks into the lives of war orphans. I don't suggest playing it with a child younger than 10 around if they are not ready to understand what war is like and how it affects the people.

Format
I have DVDs, Laserdiscs and VHS tapes. If you are investing in animation videos, try to see if you can buy DVDs and have a friend make you a VHS copy if you don't have a player. DVDs should hold up better in long term storage, handle a wider range of temperature and humidities. This recommendation doesn't hold up much with US made titles (versus anime), as most US live DVDs and new tapes have Macrovision enabled. See my copy protection page for more details on Macrovision.

Anime On TV

There is a larger inrush of anime that has been shown on TV, particularly on Cartoon Network. Check their "Toonami" and "Adult Swim" blocks.

Links:General Web:Anime Web Turnpike now an aging little maintained site of diminishing relevance.

DVD:http://www.animeondvd.com The best anime DVD site I have seen.http://www.wildcoast.org/dvd/ The only other AniDVD site I have seen, but its review style is mediocre, no comments are available to explain the ratings, and the ratings are not credited to anyone. Another problem is that blank entries left as a place holder for reviews on unreleased titles all have 'F' ratings.Catsspat's Web Site Writes pretty tough reviews of DVD authoring.

Companies:AnimEigo In my opinion, the best place to get older stuff.Anime Village One of the newest in the US.Bandai Entertainment It seems that the Anime Village name has been abandoned for anime releases, the name being relegated to the chat site / forum that it wa.Central Park Media This is broken down to Software Sculpters, U.S. Manga Corps and Anime 18, as well as some non-video ventures.Manga Entertainment This company seems to have the best MSRPs in the industry, but so far the worst DVD track record of the major anime companies.Pioneer Animation Many good series are distributed from here.

Models:
I do have a few models from Neon Genesis Evangelion. They are the resin Ayanami Rei in a plug suit (I believe it is a pirate cast, as NAS and Gainax appear nowhere on the box, and the box has a photograph of a box), Bandai LM editions of Asuka's Unit 02 and the mass production unit, called EVA-05 on the box. I have a Shinohara AV-98 Ingram model under construction, I'll put the reviews for Rei and the Ingram when they are complete.

Legitimacy:
I strive for a legitimate collection. In some cases, I am waiting for the DVD release, in one, I owned the VHS tapes, but sold them in anticipation of a DVD release, keeping backup copies in case I had the urge to watch it before the DVD release. Quite a few VHS copies I have are legitimate personal copies of the Laserdiscs or DVDs that I own, but I am slowly phasing them out. Checking out eBay seems to be a good way to get legitimate tapes for cheap, and my anime store sells used videos that is very competitive with eBay, after considering shipping. It seems that DVD is the way to go as most DVDs SRP at about the same as a VHS tape of the same, but usually have more episodes per disc.

Fan Subs:
I really don't know what to say about these. They are often lower A/V quality than legitimately released videos with little quality control and some had poor translation and editing. The only benefit they give to the genre is that they get some titles over sooner, others get titles here that are unlikely to be released legitimately. As subtitling takes far less work than a dub, you will usually not find fan dubs of any title, never mind the type of fans that produce these are more likely to be hard core sub fanatics.

The biggest problem with fansubs is the same as that of pirating. Once a fan has a copy and has seen it, that greatly reduces the likeliness that the fan will purchase or rent a legitimate copy when it becomes available. There are those that will go legit when possible, but many will not, likely reducing the payback the licencee sees for its efforts. While there are plenty of people that do buy the licenced version, I see a lot of anime fans that wouldn't pay a dime to help pay for the production of the material they like, and it devalues the material.

Audio CDs
Don't get suckered into thinking that because you are buying a soundtrack CD with Asian writing, you'll have a legitimate copy. Son May and Ever Anime are two major companies that make anime soundtracks, but they are rip-offs, as not a dime from an individual sale goes to the companies that own the material or the composer or the performers. Legitimate Japanese CDs typically cost about 12$ for singles, 30$ for full CDs. Geneon Anime Music is a good source of affordable, legitimate products.

Video CDs / DVDs
DVDs and Video CDs from Hong Kong or Taiwan should be looked at only with suspicion. Very often they are rip-offs. Nearly any region zero disc from Asia should be considered unlicenced, with the exception of some ODEX Limited producs, such as Boys Be.